Archimedes Screw
by Bandelero-Casanova
Summary: “Sparta” he whispered, staggering backwards. He felt so numb, so afraid. The Spartans, the enemies of Athens, would slaughter everyone. There would be blood flowing through the streets before dark. AU Anc Greece. SasuNaru, NaruSaku, KakaIru and more.
1. Athens

**NARUTO**

**DISCLAIMER****: Don't own~!**

**A/N****: This fanfiction has been rewritten, not only to improve the quality but also for some personal satisfaction. I hope you all enjoy and review please. Thank you kindly.**

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**ARCHIMEDES SCREW**

_**Noun:**_

_**Archimedes S**__**crew**__ (__plural__**Archimedes screws**__): __A screw like device invented by Greek mathematician Archimedes, ca. 200 BCE, which when twisted inside a cylinder, raises water from a lower level to a higher level_

**CHAPTER ONE: ATHENS.**

The city of Athens was buzzing with life under the blazing summer sun. Citizens scurried about like ants in a mine, rushing through the narrow cobble-stone lanes on their way to work or the markets. Down in the markets shoppers jumped for joy as they snapped up the greatest goods in all of Greece, the freshest fish and the finest most magnificent olives were sold on every corner. Housewives admired the fresh seafood with gluttonous eyes. From high above on her cloud, Athena the patron goddess of Athens, gazed down lovingly at her loyal subjects. Laughing heartily at their foolish actions, marveling in their triumphs and wrecking ferocious penalties down on those who commit crimes in her presence. Quiet satisfied with what she'd seen, Athena turned in the sky, looking down with great curiosity at the cliffs along the coast.

On the cliffs below was a large grassy platform. Its beauty enhanced by the white-stone Corinthian columns that surrounded the round mosaic courtyard in the centre of the grass. Moss grew over the bases of the columns and through the cracks of the mosaic. The courtyard floor was made of many tiny square tiles, all in strong blues, pale yellows and a delicious pinky-red. Although it was not visible from directly atop the mosaic, if you stood on the next cliff peak up the pattern of the floor was clearly visible. A blue outer ring was filled with light freckled yellows, tiny spots of green flecked all over. Directly in the centre was the eye catcher, at least a meter wide and made from polished red tiles was a great, colossal toad. Each foot the size of a human arm and it's beady black eyes were as dark as Hades. A tribute to the god Zeus, whose wrath had killed many a noble warrior but also whose kindness had guided Athenian soldiers through battles that seemed but impossible.

Against one of the great pillars leant Iruka, the great teacher of Athens. Nodding as his students filled into the courtyard one by one, Iruka ran a finger over the scar on his nose, walking over to face the young men and women that he had the distinct pleasure of educating on behalf of the city. The scarred teacher smiled as he looked over his subjects seated on the cool tiles, although he was still a young man himself, gazing upon the heads of those young sixteen year olds made him look back on the days when he was a reckless teenager.

Iruka chortled to himself as he saw who was sitting in the front row, Naruto the outcast. Naruto's blonde bangs fell about his face. The blonde had bright blue eyes, so bright that they mirrored the sky. Although he would never admit it, Iruka was fond of the boy. Naruto was a good student. Hopeless, stupid and loathed by everyone but he was a good boy. A lonely boy and perhaps that's why Iruka cared for him so much. Iruka, like Naruto, had never had a parents love. Never had any friends. Never felt the compassion of another human being.

The yellow haired boy leant back on his palms, he wore a loose cloth wrapped around his waist. It was hot and sweat ran in beads down his chest. Iruka looked away, part of him sizzling with desire and hunger as he watched Naruto's tanned skin glimmer in the morning sun. Naruto threw back his head, gazing over dreamily at the girl to his left.

Sakura looked away from the blonde boy, Iruka knew why too, it was because Naruto was pathetic in her eyes. In the eyes of a priestess. Sakura lounged on the tiles, her pale pink hair had golden threads twisted through and it fell over her small breasts, which were barely covered by her hot pink dress. A thread of gold string wrapped around her waist and gave her hips more shape. Iruka, who favored men above women, couldn't help but stare at the girl. Out of almost all the woman he had seen, Sakura was one of the most enchanting. Many others agreed with him too, for Sakura was the most alluring priestess of Apollo that the city had. Some even lusted for her more that the noble Hinata, who was given her body as a gift from the goddess of sensuality and love, Aphrodite.

"Today, we shall be learning about the irrigation of fields" Iruka said, a hand rolling out to his side and his loose cloth shawls floating about in the breeze. His face becoming sombre as he watched the unappreciative rolling-eyes of his pupils.

"Hades…" he swore, rubbing his scar.

Sakura learnt forwards, sitting on her knees and slowly rising to look behind her teacher. Her finger raised and pointing towards the hills.

"Fire!" she suddenly yelled, making everyone look up. Iruka turning rapidly and gazing up at what he knew was the warning beacon. A tide of fear suddenly gripped him, his stomach knotting as he turned back to his students.

"Home! Now! Go home all of you!" Iruka shouted, shooing the children away as fast as he could. Pushing Naruto back towards the city as the boy tried desperately to get a better look at the beacon.

"But sir!" he pinned.

"No! Get home now, boy!" ordered the parental figure, using his other hand to guide Sakura to the paved pathway. The mad rush of young bodies filing up the pathway made Iruka nervous, who knew if they would actually go home like he asked. One thing the teacher knew however was that he had no time to take each one home. In his leather sandals, he ran down the grassy slopes of the cliffs. Through bushes and shrubs that covered the land. Iruka's feet hammered the ground as he bolted across the country with incredible speed, something he had developed in his troubled childhood.

Just over the hills, past the fiery beacon, Iruka stopped dead in his tracks. His face contorting as he looked out in fear at the beach bellow. From the shore to the horizon, timber vessels lined the seas. Though they had none of the magnificence of the Athenian ships, the sheer number of them made Iruka tremble.

"Sparta" he whispered, staggering backwards. He felt so numb, so afraid. The Spartans, the enemies of Athens, would slaughter everyone. There would be blood flowing through the streets before dark.

Iruka sucked in a deep breath, turning to run back to the city. But he stopped, a glimmer of gold caught his attention from the corner of his vision. He took a few steps forward, just to see. Anger seeping through his every pore as he realized who it was. A blond bush of hair sticking up from behind a rock. Silently, Iruka moved towards the golden glittering hair, until he was so close that he could see the top of the child's head.

"Naruto!" He howled down at the blond. Making the blond, who though he had the most superb of hiding places, almost wet himself. Vivid blue eyes met Iruka's cold, angry ones.

"Ir…Iruka sir, funny seeing you here! Funny! You know I was just trying to learn about irrigating fields because, you know, we never got to finish the class today!" stammered the blond.

"Don't lie, it's a bad habit" came the monotonous voice of Iruka as he grabbed Naruto's clothes around the chest and pulled him up with ease. Naruto surprised at how strong his teacher was.

"I'm not lying!!"

"Naruto…"

"Okay, okay! I just wanted to see, I want to be a strong warrior and fight for Athens!" Naruto gasped, his eyes falling down to the grass. Shame clearly visible in his face.

"There's no glory in dying, not even for your home" Iruka whispered, Naruto looked up in horror. That was something that you just didn't say. That was the kind of thinking that got you condemned.

"Come now, let's get you to safety" added the man, wincing as he felt the nerves around his scar jump and skip. It was a premonition of sorts, a warning that there were bad things to come.

Nodding, Naruto followed Iruka back up the hills in a sprint. Running, fear of the Spartans stopping them from looking back. Only once did Iruka pause, his eyes locking onto Naruto's. The teacher's hand clung tight around the boys own young and slender one.

"I won't let anything happen to you, Naruto" promised the brave teacher before continuing his strides through the lush greenery of the Greek coast. His beloved student clutching his hand as the fear and danger of the situation finally begun to get through to Naruto.

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**A/N 2: I know that many readers do not like reading a fanfiction where they do not know the pairings. It can be frustrating. Well, I'm sorry to say that there are MANY different pairings in the fic and I don't want to spoil everything by revealing them. However I will reveal that this is a yaoi and a hetero fic, with the main pairings being SasuNaruSaku and KakaIru. Believe me, this is going to be exciting~! Thanks again.**


	2. Mask

**NARUTO**

**DISCLAIMER****: Don't own~!**

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**ARCHIMEDES SCREW**

_**Noun**_

_**Archimedes S**__**crew**__ (__plural __**Archimedes screws**__)_

_A screw like device invented by Greek mathematician Archimedes, ca. 200 BCE, which when twisted inside a cylinder, raises water from a lower level to a higher level_

**CHAPTER TWO: MASK**

Iruka panted as he ran down the cobbled streets of Athens, Naruto following him as fast as the young blonde's muscular legs could carry him.

"Iruka, sir, stop please! I'm not used to running this much" gasped Naruto as he accidentally slapped himself in the forehead trying to wipe the sweat off of his brow. Needless to say, the boy was not overly coordinated. Making breakfast was a challenging enough task for the slave-less boy.

"Ow, ow, ow!" sobbed Naruto, trying to sit down onto the cool ground. His arm cracking and almost dislodging from its socket as Iruka reefed the boy up onto his feet, forcing Naruto back into a run.

"Naruto, do me one favour!?" Iruka huffed, pulling the boys hand closer to his body to shorten the distance between the two running Athenians. Out of Iruka's eye he could see the light hit Naruto's golden locks, a brief moment of beauty in a time of terror.

"Y-Yes??"

"Shut the Hades up!" Iruka bellowed, which was a very un-Iruka like act. Uzumaki Naruto clenched his teeth, he knew that Iruka was one of the few people who was actually willing to look out for the abandoned and desperately lonely boy and if Iruka was scared enough to raise his voice like that … then something must really be wrong. Nausea and nostalgia conquered Naruto as his leather bound feet thundered against the path. Only once before had Iruka yelled at him and that was because he found Naruto pouring olive oil onto the marble floor of Zeus's temple - trying to send the fat priest flying on his great fat arse for beating the poor blonde earlier that week.

"The Spartans - those ships in the bay - they'll come up the cliffs in hoards, boy. There won't be a safe Athenian within a hundred miles" explained the teacher, eyes narrowing as he took a sharp left turn into one of the shadowy alleyways. He sucked in a breath. Naruto's silence giving him the time to think.

Iruka's heart was racing inside his slender chest, he wasn't a well defined man but he was fitter than many Athenians. His pace slowed in the alley, he walked softly through the shadows, like a cat after a mouse. The teacher's sweaty hand clutched around Naruto's fingers as Iruka guided the boy through the narrow street.

"Where are we going?" whispered Naruto. The azure-eyed teen reached forward, his fingertips caressing the folds of the cloth on Iruka's back. Making the older man shiver. The stopped, Iruka kneeling and turning to face Naruto. The scar-faced man let go of the boy's hand, using his own dark tanned one to touch the glowing cheeks of Naruto's pale face. Iruka took in the blue of the lonely boys eyes, the golden fineness of his hair and the unblemished cheeks the stood like peaches on either side of Naruto's delicate nose. A red hot flush conquered Iruka's own cheeks.

"I'm taking you somewhere safe, Naruto" whispered the brunette, a small smile visible on his face.

"Somewhere….safe…" the boy was clearly confused, his eyes jolted over to Iruka's hand on his face. A quick gasp escaping his mouth. Naruto's head pulled back, a nervous fear creeping up his spine.

"What do you mean by that?" exclaimed the wide eyed boy. Iruka sighed, slapping the boy's face. Sometimes Naruto's stupidity amazed him, Iruka never made a conscious effort to hide his sexuality but trying to seduce young boys was something beyond him. Let the boys love the boys and the men love the men, Iruka believed.

"You odd boy!" he laughed through the tension "Don't you understand anything?" added the wise teacher.

"Ahh…well now that you mention it…"

"Oh in the name of Athena!" swore the teacher to his dumb-ass student. "Naruto! I-I care about you" sighed the teacher, the sad gentle smile returning to his face. Naruto gazed into his teachers face.

"Huh?"

"Jeez kid, listen! You and me, I guess we're a lot alike. Both lonely, both lost. You're a bit like me and I guess that makes me want to look out for you… because everyone deserves a little love in their life" Iruka felt lost for words. Explaining the want to look after someone is often difficult to say and Iruka had never tried to explain how he felt to his precious student before. Iruka had never tried to explain how he felt to anyone, though not for lack of trying. It was just that he had nobody to confess to.

"Iruka…" Naruto's eye's filled with tears. He leant forward and rested his head on his teacher's shoulder. The blonde boy's body fell forward into Iruka's arms. "Thanks teacher, I care about you too" said Naruto through a loving smile. A sob leaving his throat as he felt Iruka's fatherly hug tighten around his shoulders.

THUMP! Came a noise from behind, making Iruka push Naruto down towards the cobbles. The scarred teacher turned towards the noise with one swift swirl of his body.

"Who's there?" Iruka's voice jumped as he spoke. A suave chuckle not making him feel any less anxious.

"Relax Iruka! I'm here to help" someone said from the deepest, darkest shadows of the lane. Raising his chin, Iruka straightened up.

"Asuma? Asuma of Lesbos?" Iruka asked to the shadows. His back straight and his fists clenched.

"Such a smart man, yes friend it is me" Asuma said, stepping from the shadows. Ivory pipe hanging from his teeth. A slithering trail of smoke trailing skywards from the pipes end. Rough hair and a manly beard covered Asuma, unlike the other men of Athens Asuma wore a short warriors cloth around his waist. A metal chest plate covered his body, although even he would admit that it was more for show than actual battle.

"Asuma, old friend! The Spartans are upon us!" exclaimed Iruka, diving forward with wild eyes to talk to his friend.

"Yes, I know"

"You know?"

"Shikamaru was the one who lit the warning beacons" explained the pipe smoking warrior, playing casually with the blade that hung from a cord at his waist. Iruka was silent for a moment, looking up at Asuma as he angled his head away. Though they regarded each other as friends, the two men did not trust each other at all. This –perhaps- was a good thing, as to trust Asuma was not the wisest of moves. The warrior of Lesbos was, as just stated, a warrior and the thoughts of warriors were far more focused on victory rather than making life long friends.

"Where are you headed now?" Iruka questioned, a hand behind his back motioned Naruto forward and the boy could do no less than comply. Asuma was another of the men Naruto had a distinct disdain for, especially after Naruto walked in on Asuma in an argument with his apprentice, the Athenian born Shikamaru of the Nara's.

Naruto could still remember the crimson blood dripping from Shikamaru the Shadow's busted lip.

"_Zeus! Oh Hades! What are you doing?" swore the ponytail boy, trying to wipe the blood off his face. His dark eyes looking up angrily at Asuma, his master._

"_I just … You're normally such a quiet, well-behaved boy" Asuma spoke so calmly that it scared Naruto._

"_Like a dog? Wouldn't you say" whispered the teenager. Running a hand over his hair, Shikamaru looked Asuma dead in the eyes._

"_Shut up Shika!" Asuma gasped, grabbing Shikamaru around the neck. Still, the Shadow-dweller fought as he choked and sputtered out his words._

"_You don't love Kurenai!" cried Shikamaru, his hands running up Asuma's arms. Like a lover touching his beloved._

"_Shikamaru!!" yelled Asuma throwing the young warrior to the ground. A scarlet blush running across his cheeks."How can you say that? I love my wife… just because we have had moments while in the heat of the battle…"_

"_You love me!" Shikamaru hissed, "At least that's what you say – and I know you don't say it to anyone else" Shikamaru's voice was so soft that Naruto could barely hear the boy whisper "Be with me, Asuma" beneath his breath. Shikamaru obviously at the end of his tether._

"_It's my duty to support my wife and family. Not to run away with my… mistress" Asuma struggled with the sentence, unable to look Shikamaru in the eyes. Afraid that if he did gaze into those eyes, then he would have to admit his love for the boy._

"_Mistress?" Shika sobbed, how could his lover call him that? Mistress implied that Shikamaru was a whore, that he was just a toy of Asuma. A good fuck for the pipe-smoking warrior._

"_Yes, a mistress" whispered Asuma turning away from the stunned Shikamaru. His footfalls echoing through the room as he left._

"_ASUMA!" Shikamaru yelled, blood still cascading from his wounds."Stop using me…"_

Naruto remembered hiding in the shadows, tears running down his face as he watched Shikamaru's love reject him for a woman he hardly cared about. Naruto remembered Shikamaru trying to kill himself in the months to come. Naruto remembered how unemotional Asuma had been the day Kurenai died giving birth. He remembered how Asuma sent the child back to Lesbos to be raised. But most of all Naruto remembered the hate he felt for Asuma for causing so much pain to the people who obviously cared so deeply for the smoking bastard.

Hiding in the shadows behind Iruka, Naruto could still feel the hate he held for Asuma bubble up inside him.

"I'm going to fight. From what I've head, every able man is meeting in the forum to be arranged by General Ebisu for the Spartan attack" Asuma answered, his hand flicking in the direction of the forum.

"Going to go die for a pile of dirt, aye?" mused Iruka. A smug smile across his face, combated by Asuma's angered expression.

"You coward, only a piece-of-crap like yourself would make an excuse like that! If you were really a man then you'd fight!" hissed Asuma, looking down at Iruka, their bodies barely a hand-span away. Neither man willing to back down from the confrontation. Though Iruka knew he couldn't fight Asuma, he was more than willing to take a beating for his beliefs. That was just the way he'd been raised.

"I don't have time for this, old friend" Iruka said finally, side-stepping around the larger man. "Naruto, come!" beckoned the teacher who was more than eager to get away from the warrior Asuma.

"One day you'll regret being such a pussy, Iruka!" bellowed Asuma as Iruka led Naruto away, Naruto noticing the loathing look he received from Asuma before Iruka pushed him away.

A strange pain zapped through the blonde, blue-eyed beauty's heart. Naruto still felt pain every time the people of Athens looked at him like that, looking at the poor boy like he was the scum of the earth. Abandoned as a babe, Naruto was raised by the city but received no love from it. The sceptical and hateful eyes of the other Athenians forced Naruto into solitude … and loneliness. Yet the bright boy wouldn't let those cruel people bring him down for too long, so - sucking in a breath - Naruto pressed on. Forcing the burning image of Asuma's gaze out of his mind.

"Not far, Naruto, not far now" sighed Iruka, once again dragging the distracted blonde through the city by his hand. A flaming light struck at the cobbles by the two Athenians feet. Iruka pulled Naruto closer, using his own body to shield the boy from the objects as they came down around them.

"Sensei!?" shouted Naruto, watching the burning arrows narrowly miss his teachers thin frame.

"Relax, relax… It'll be ok, it'll be ok" whispered Iruka, eyes widening. His left hand shooting out to grip Naruto's clothing. A somber face and a nod indicating to Naruto that it was time to flee.

"Now! Run!" yelled the teacher, sprinting off down the pathway, Naruto at his heels. Twice they turned, dodging the arrows of the Spartans that rained down in sheets over the city.

"Faster!!" shouted Iruka, pulling Naruto forward.

"Faster dammit!!" the teacher shouted again, sweat rolling down his face like water off a glass. Iruka's light footfalls struck like lightening against the ground, he ran like a cat. Wild and fast, always ready and always searching.

Faster and faster, the teacher pushed his student. Running through the dark alleys, dodging the troops of Athens that were marching steadily to their doom. Another turn left, another turn right. They sprinted, Naruto lost in the tunnel like system of the streets. Unable to get a decent idea of where he was.

Suddenly, in the blink of an eye, Iruka stopped. Sending Naruto crashing into the teacher's back.

"Argh! Iruka what's that about! You can't just stop infront of people like tha…"

"Shut up"

"Huh?"

Naruto looked forward, past the body of his beloved teacher. His mouth dropping open, his heart ceasing it's beat as he saw what stood in front of Iruka. A thick lump of mucus rising in the golden-haired boy's throat. He felt Iruka's hand tense as the two figures in front stepped forward.

"Aw, look at that Sasuke. The Athenians, they hold hands! How sweet!" remarked the taller of the two, a blunt, monotonous sarcasm present in his voice. A slight chuckle sending shivers down both Naruto and Iruka's spines. The light casting down through the buildings onto the speaker's face. Iruka gulped as he eyed the Spartan, the man's face wasn't even visible beneath his black mask. A leather patch covering one eye.

"Surrender or die" said the masked-man, raising his sword to Iruka in a most threatening way.

"I won't surrender to the likes of Sparta!" hissed Iruka through clenched teeth, shoulders tight with tension. The upside-down "U" shape of the Spartan's one visible eye indicating his joyful spirits, his - although somewhat monotonous - cheerful voice wounding Iruka's ears like nails against the notice-walls that lined the forums.

"If that's the way you want it…I guess I'm going to have to kill you"


	3. Touch

**NARUTO**

**DISCLAIMER****: Don't own~!**

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**ARCHIMEDES SCREW**

_**Noun**_

_**Archimedes S**__**crew**__ (__plural __**Archimedes screws**__)_

_A screw like device invented by Greek mathematician Archimedes, ca. 200 BCE, which when twisted inside a cylinder, raises water from a lower level to a higher level_

**CHAPTER THREE: TOUCH**

Metal clattered violently against the yellowing stone of the narrow Athenian alleyway, the blade scattering sparks like fireworks through the cool air. Vicious Spartan steel sought hungrily for the flesh of Athenians as it sliced through the air with an amazing speed. The muscles of the strong Spartan warrior rippled as he brought the sword down; with each powerful thrust he came closer and closer to piecing the loosely clothed flesh of Iruka. Had Iruka not been dodging for his life, he would have given himself the luxury of a gander upon the built body of the masked figure.

"You're making this harder than it has to be!" laughed the Spartan, lowering his sword and taking a few steps forward. Iruka didn't hesitate though, he knew well enough that Spartans were trained to kill and wasn't going to let the masked man or his accomplice hurt Naruto.

"Naruto, when I give the signal I want you to run" whispered Iruka, pushing the blond teen back with his backside. Never ceasing his actions as a human shield.

"What are you talking about? Are you crazy!? He'll kill you" Naruto gasped as he held on to Iruka's back, leaning his cheek against his beloved teacher's spine. The warmth of Naruto made Iruka quiver; the boy was still so naive and innocent. He was too young to die.

"Maybe I am crazy…" replied the tanned teacher. Iruka pushed back further as the silver haired warrior edged closer and closer with his menacing sword. The Spartan's red war skirt and leather straps flipped about as he moved and his molded body armor rattled against the metal keys and daggers strapped to his belt. "Maybe I am crazy Naruto but I'm not letting you get hurt!" added Iruka, almost at the end of the alleyway. He shook his head and screwed up his face, desperate to fling away the perspiration upon his upper lip. It was an uncomfortable slickness and an obvious sign of nervousness. What truly worried the teacher though was that the slickness was a distraction – the kind of distraction that could lead to him being impaled upon a sharp Spartan blade.

Naruto hissed, taking a step back by himself. Anger surged through his body and sweat dripped down his brow. Did Iruka honestly think that Naruto would desert him? He was the only person who cared in the slightest about Naruto! Iruka had even brought Naruto food when he was sick – not worrying about exposing himself to illness. He had shown kindness to the boy. There wasn't a way in the world the blond would let his teacher suffer, not if he could do something to stop it.

"No! No! I won't leave you! You can't make me!" growled the blue eyed teen.

"Naruto…" sighed Iruka, "Please just do this for me. I promise I'll be okay, just get out of here" he said through gritted teeth. Eyes tracking the slow steady pace of the Spartan. If Iruka didn't get Naruto out of here soon then they would both be dead.

"I… Okay" muttered the blonde. He braced himself for the signal, aware that he'd have to run faster than he ever had before. Naruto's legs tingled with anticipation and fear, perhaps more with fear. Fear of what the Spartan invasion was doing in Athens and fear of what the Spartans would do if they caught him. The blond had heard stories of the bloodthirsty warrior's love for obscure torture from the travelers in the market place and in school where the rumours raced around as wickedly fast as wildfire. The one that scared him the most was the story of the Spartan breaking a pottery vase in the anus of a prisoner. Naruto remembered it distinctly; it still made his stomach churn. Though it was the calmness with which Ino had said the tale that really scared Naruto.

"Come here little mouse, no more running away" sang the masked man, shocking both Iruka and Naruto when he dashed forward. A wild jet black eye locked onto Iruka's thumping chest. If Iruka's heart had fists, it would have punched its way through his rib-cage and run screaming down the street.

"RUN! Run, Naruto!" screamed Iruka, turning and pushing the aqua eyed adolescent out into the sunlit street. Closing his eyes as he heard the thunderous crack of the Spartan's sword colliding with the wall above Iruka's head and felt the burn of the sparks against his neck. "Dammit! Fucking run!!" Iruka howled. Landing on his knees and crawling forward, watching as Naruto began a confused run back through the streets of Athens.

Naruto's feet slapped against the cobbles, the shadows of the surrounding buildings loomed over the fear-stricken blond. He could hear the swift steps of the Spartan, apparently named Sasuke, gaining on him and he could feel the burning blood-red eyes dig deep gouges in his back. Ignoring the excruciating pain that was coming from his side, the blue eyes Athenian wormed his way through the streets. Warm tears rolled down his cheeks as he ran. To run in pain is a most horrible sensation, it's true, but to run for one's life whilst every muscle in your side spasms and aches is a far more terrible feeling. Fear is what makes such an event truly detestable, fear is a driving force. For no matter how many tears Naruto shed or how badly his body could ever ache, fear would not let his legs stop pounding down the cobbles of the narrow streets of the Greek metropolis.

Behind the blond boy, Sasuke Uchiha was patiently pacing his stride, trying to conserve all the energy he could. Sasuke was a trained warrior; he would hunt down the tiring Athenian and kill him quickly. The sooner the obsidian haired killer slaughtered his prey, the sooner he could move onto the next victim. Silently, like the embodiment of death itself, Sasuke picked up his pace. Eyes hungrily following Naruto run up the white stone steps to the temple of Athena.

Thoughts of Naruto's safety flooded Iruka's mind as the tanned teacher ran up the path to the forum. If Iruka recalled correctly, Asuma had said everyone was gathering there to organize the resistance force, if there was someone there then Iruka had a chance of finding safety.

"Here kitty, kitty… come back puss-puss!" laughed the silver-haired warrior. The Spartan sheathed his sword, an invisible grin running wide across his face beneath the black mask. His skills as a warrior were so great that he didn't even slow down once while putting the blade away. Rather, just to show off, the warrior quickened his stride. He was tempted – to impress nobody except himself- to take out his favourite reading scroll while running, though he thought better of it. To focus on his victim-to-be was a much more important task.

Only meters away from the Spartan, Iruka swore at the man. His leather sandals were ripping the skin away from his feet as he tried to escape the predatory masked figure behind him. Iruka gasped suddenly, grunting as something struck him from behind. The heavy force made Iruka's knees buckle and he fell to the ground violently. Twisting in mid-air. Landing on his side, Iruka yelped as the left side of his face hit the rough, gritty ground. A nasty stinging sensation ripping through his chin and a small area at the end of the teacher's well-kept eyebrow.

Laughing maniacally from his place a-top the Athenian's back, lay the Spartan. Thrilled with his tackle, the one-eyed wonder rolled his wounded prey over. Stunned and slightly concussed, Iruka was denied the opportunity to gain his bearings. The teacher hissed in pain as the Spartan straddled his hips, slamming the struggling Iruka back into the ground. The Spartan landed a brutal fist in Iruka's face, making droplets of blood spray over both the sweat drenched men.

"For Sparta" said the warrior, raising his fist for another punch.

"No!" Iruka somehow spat, blood flying in flecks from his mouth. He cried out again as he flung his upper body forward, taking a daring swipe at his masked captor. Even with his brilliant speed, Iruka was no match for the trained fighter. The proud Spartan grabbed Iruka's thin wrists, pinning the fear-stricken man down with his arms over his head. With blood trickling down his chin from the split in his lip, Iruka gazed up at the single visible eye of his attacker with silent fear.

Iruka's glossy brown eyes hid his fright too well; they beamed up defiantly at the Spartan. The silver-haired warrior was taken aback by his prey; normally his victims would be sobbing and pleading for a quick death by now. Or at least, that was what he was used to… perhaps the odd woman would whore themselves out for the chance to live, but very few would ever look the Spartan in his one eye with such a defiant and definite gaze. The warrior's somewhat-softened black orb of an eye traced the face of Iruka, searching hard for signs of fear. Instead the warrior found that the man lying beneath him was - for lack of better words in the Spartans perverted mind - beautiful. Breathtakingly beautiful.

Breathing heavily, the Spartan took in everything about his hostage. He absorbed the gorgeous glow of the teacher's dark skin, the gentle slope of his jaw line, the glowing fierceness of the man's chocolate brown eyes framed and enhanced by loose strands of hair floating in the warm breeze and finally the warrior noticed Iruka's lips. Two dazzling, swollen lines of pink made the dainty lips of Iruka, a small split in the bottom lip drizzled cherry coloured liquid over dark olive skin.

The Spartan sucked in a breath, his loins ached. Growling, the Spartan lowered himself until he could feel Iruka's moist breath against his face. Horrifying Iruka, the Spartan ran his nose up Iruka's jaw line, moaning as Iruka shivered. The teacher tried to talk but the warrior used a hand to silence him, taking Iruka's wrists in one of his large hands. When Iruka stopped struggling, the Spartan moved the hand from over Iruka's mouth. Drawing it up onto his eyes and denying the teacher any form of sight.

Tugging down his mask, the predatory man chuckled. If Iruka would not fear him, well he'd just have to try harder…and have a little fun along the way.

Inhaling Iruka's scent, the masked man ran his fingers over Iruka's lips, making the pony-tailed Athenian wince as his cut was touched. With a groan of pleasure the Spartan ran a steaming, wet tongue back down Iruka's jaw. Gently brushing his lips before taking them whole. The Spartan pressed Iruka down, forcing the lips of the teacher apart while caressing his cheek with a callused hand. Warm tongues mingling in the adrenaline fuelled collision.

Drawing back, saliva coming away from his mouth in strings, the Spartan looked down at Iruka. Iruka's body buzzed as he tossed his head in a mixture of shock, fear and lust. It had been so long since he had been kissed like that. Not since he was a young boy had Iruka felt such passion run through him. He couldn't breathe properly, his body flipping between fear and the craving for more; more of what the Spartan had given him. A craving that the Spartan was more than happy to satisfy. Blinking back the tears of fear and the sense that he knew this was wrong, Iruka eased into another of the warrior's kisses.


	4. Catacombs Rising

**NARUTO**

**DISCLAIMER****: Don't own~!**

* * *

**ARCHIMEDES SCREW**

_**Noun**_

_**Archimedes S**__**crew**__ (__plural __**Archimedes screws**__)_

_A screw like device invented by Greek mathematician Archimedes, ca. 200 BCE, which when twisted inside a cylinder, raises water from a lower level to a higher level_

**CHAPTER FOUR: CATACOMBS RISING**

_Athena sighed as she walked slowly through the catacombs, refusing to rush no matter how dire the situation. With a pale hand she brushed back the free locks of blonde that hung from her head before tucking up the loose top she wore, her massive cleavage not nearly hidden by the green fabric that was wrapped gingerly around her shoulders. In front of her lay a massive stone block, a solid carved tomb of some late priest, its lid slightly ajar. The stench of the rotting dead making the blonde beauty choke with disgust. With a grunt of frustration, the big bosomed goddess leant against the structure. Her slightly clenched fist knocking politely against the lid._

"_You're needed" Athena said in her most mother-like voice, moving her now still fist to the lid, caressing the curved stone lip of the massive slab. A vein in her temple throbbing as she heard a muffled grunt from inside. Was it too much to ask for someone to actually respond when she talked to them?_

"_It does not concern me, their fate is not interwoven with mine" came an almost inaudible reply, a tiny cloud of dust and dead flies floating through the miniscule opening. _

_Chortling to herself, Athena whispered: "Well it is now"._

*******

Sweat ran in slick beads down his neck as the young blonde hobbled down the grimy staircase beneath Athena's temple, his lungs struggling to draw breath from deep down inside his defined chest. The chambers were small and poorly ventilated – essentially the foe of any _living_ person who actually required _clean_ oxygen to survive. Naruto gasped for air, taking in mouthful after mouthful of the thick and corrupting dust that clung menacingly to the walls of the tunnel. Behind him, the blonde could hear the footfalls of his pursuer growing ever closer; their light, swift thuds sent daggers of fear into Naruto's heart.

With each step he edged deeper and deeper down into the catacombs, the spiraling staircase was barely visible beneath him. How he hadn't fallen yet, Naruto didn't know. Though he did know that even the slightest mistake would end with his warm, crimson blood seeping down the narrow rock-carved stairs, whether by head against rock or blade against throat was irrelevant, either way he would be on his way to Hades.

He shuffled down a little faster. A horrible, torturing mixture of fear and adrenaline pumping through every vein in his nimble, pale body.

"He-help!" Naruto gasped, clutching at the clothes wrapped around his beating heart. Knuckles turning white as he held himself tight, trying to ease the pain that ripped through his lungs like fire through a farm. Naruto's voice crackled as he called out again. Hope for salvation dimming as fast as the lights in the plunging tunnels.

A horrendous cackle wafted down the tunnels, the voice of the Spartan teenager roared through the murky shafts with murderous intent. The screams of his dead victims laced his tone. It was a noise that made Naruto feel like there was a red hot blade being thrust into his very soul. Gritting his teeth as his heart jumped and his stomach knotted, the Athenian slid his shoulder against the filthy wall. Ignoring the smell of the death and urine, Naruto steadied himself against the tunnel with his hands, sliding down the stairs quickly. Desperate to escape Sasuke -the bandage clad beast- behind him. His heart stopped momentarily for joy as he saw the bottom of the channel through the darkness, its faint hollow darkness glittering with all the magnificence of Zeus's angelic harem.

And indeed Zeus had a rather impressive harem.

Huffing and puffing, Naruto burst forth into the chamber. The teen's sandals catching on the shattered slate floor as he ran, sending the aqua-eye youth crashing down to the ground. "Hades!" he swore as the Spartan leapt upon him, Sasuke leaping wild-eyed through the eerie darkness to the spot where Naruto knelt. Snarling, the raven-haired teenage killer hoisted his prey up to its feet, only to push it an arm's length away.

Sasuke's fist landed square on the left side of Naruto's bony jaw as he punched out, a thick coat of spit and blood spraying out against Sasuke's knuckles as he pushed that same fist down harder into the boy's soft cheek. Drawing back leisurely only to strike again. The raven haired soldier dropping his maniacal smile as he glared wide eyed in fascination at his bloody foe. A bead of Naruto's blood rolling down the steaming pink lips of the Spartan as he watched the blond fall back onto the wall of the dimly lit chamber. Naruto's frantic scrambling reminding the war-toughened Spartan of a wounded dog, hunched against a corner as is growled fearfully for its miserable life.

"Back off!" Naruto grunted as he lay weak against the floor of the room, his shaking fingers reaching out through the darkness for anything he could possible use as a weapon. His attempts to peer about hindered by the sticky tears in his eyes and the painful crimson drip of his wounds.

The gashes in his face searing with pain, the young blond dove forward as his assailant aimed an wrathful kick at the boy's side. Naruto's head smashing against the ground as he contorted his nimble frame away from Sasuke, his legs flailing about as the back-half of him tried to run while the rest of him fell heavily to the ground. A bloody hiss escaping his lips as the dust of the dead rubbed itself into his exposed insides. Chaotic thunder roaring through his ears as his senses were knocked about.

For a moment, there was silence. Nothing breathed nor moved from inside the chamber. With wild eyes, Naruto looked around from where he was positioned; the eerie silence was almost deafening to the poor boys ears. Scared and aching, the golden headed orphan struggled forward, dragging himself forward on his red-raw elbows.

"I'm not doing this because I hate you" whispered Sasuke, grabbing a fistful of golden hair and pulling the distressed Naruto up onto his knees. Acting meticulously, the warrior slid his dagger down the sweaty, taught neck of the blue eyed teen. Savouring the horrified gasps and grunts that exploded from the deep of his Athenian victim. Sasuke propped the dagger beneath the clasp of Naruto's robes, sending the thin cloth fluttering down around the pale boys thighs with one flick on the blade.

Blood cascading down from Naruto's mouth as he bit his lower lip, his eyes clenched shut as dirty tears ran over those formally unblemished cheeks. Clattering echoed around the two as Sasuke tossed his knife away, letting go of the hair in his hands and grabbing the slick neck of his new toy, the hungry warrior pressed his chest against the boys naked back. The hand that had held the dagger now ran in circles over Naruto's stomach, the slow movements of the blonds' muscles and the warm moisture on his skin arousing the teenage killer as he slowly pushed his prey onto all fours.

"No, I don't do this because I hate you" said Sasuke, leaning over the naked boy and running his hands over tight, knotted shoulders. "See, I can't hate. I can't hate anyone like I hate _him_. So now I'm just all flat inside" whispered the Spartan into his enemy's ear, making Naruto shiver as he continued, "I'm numb and that's why I do this, so that maybe one day I'll be able to feel again. Rather noble in a way isn't it?" Sobbing, Naruto shook his head, his bloody lips spraying crimson over the ground as he let out a strangled cry. The grip around his neck tightening angrily in response.

"ANSWER ME!!" howled the warrior. Both hands wrapped around Naruto's neck as Sasuke pushed his pelvis hard against the blonds' backside. "FUCKING ANSWER ME!!" he screamed, flattening Naruto onto the floor. The blonds' legs splayed against the cold stone.

"N-n-no" coughed Naruto, vomit rising in his strangulated throat. His muscles tensing as he felt the cold stone against his loins and the warm, leather clad Spartan against his backside.

"No, what?" cooed the Spartan, giving Naruto's neck a sudden squeeze. Sasuke's eyes were wide with pleasure, swollen black rings forming around the two midnight black orbs. A deep, secret poison circling through them, bringing back the tortures and pleasures that the Spartan lusted for so badly.

"No you're not noble, you're pathetic" came a voice suddenly, the calm tone echoing forward from behind the Spartan's back. With a jolt, Sasuke flung around. Dropping the naked boy he had come to enjoy so much as his torso twisted and the skin of his knees rubbed away as he spun. Ribs crackling and warping as a look of surprise engulfed his face. The raven haired seventeen year old turning just in time to see the end of a portly wrought iron candelabrum cut through the demonous darkness. The rusting butt of the contraption colliding with the Spartan's temple, a dull thud clearly audible.

The eerie silence returned and for a brief second or two Sasuke swayed, his eyes misting over as Neji walked out from behind the two. The candleholder hanging from the cold, dead-looking hand of the priest. With a sniff of superiority, the Athenian priest breezed closer. An outstretched arm held the iron fixture out at the barely conscious Sasuke Uchiha. It's now bloodied butt pushing gently against the dangling shoulder of the warrior.

Without a sound the Spartan slid backwards, his arms spread-eagled against the ground as a trickle of his red life escaped the boys lips. Eyes, misty, though still stuck in a permanent state of shock.

"N-Neji?" choked Naruto. Forcing himself onto his hands and knees. Body shaking and trembling in both horror and pain.

"It's alright, the Fates have spared you this fine day" whispered the priest, trying not to look down at the bare white arse of his school friend. As, to the priest, it was a rather unattractive sight. Keeping his eyes level with Naruto's head, Neji hoisted up the cloth from around the blonds' feet. Roughly clasping the material together. The dirt and stains of Naruto's shambles rubbing against Neji's once pristine priests robes.

"Truly, A-Athena must be watching over me" sobbed the exhausted victim, collapsing against the pearly eyed Neji as he was lifted to his feet. His shoulders heavy against the slightly shorter and frailer Neji's.

With a quick glance back into the shadows, Neji gave a simple nod. A flickering smile crept across his face as he watched a wisp of blonde and a flash of blue fade into the earth. "Indeed, she certainly must be".


	5. The Shadow

**NARUTO**

**DISCLAIMER****: Don't own~!**

* * *

**ARCHIMEDES SCREW**

_**Noun**_

_**Archimedes S**__**crew**__ (__plural __**Archimedes screws**__)_

_A screw like device invented by Greek mathematician Archimedes, ca. 200 BCE, which when twisted inside a cylinder, raises water from a lower level to a higher level_

**CHAPTER FIVE: THE SHADOW**

Their tongues mingled wildly as the Spartan ran his hands up the teacher's chest, moaning loudly as he felt Iruka's hips buck in excitement. The teacher emitting short gasps as his captor dipped his mask, only to then run his sharp white teeth over the tanned man's neck, nibbling and sucking while his callused hands wandered up similarly tanned thighs.

"Oh, oh my… nngg!" Iruka whispered as he grabbed handfuls of silver hair in his hands, the pain from his facial wounds no longer bothering the young teacher. He moaned as he felt a warm tongue run up his neck, amazed at his submission to such an "inappropriate" lover.

"Your definitely something, aren't you?" sighed the Spartan, chuckling to himself as he slowly pulled back the pale blue cloth wrapped around Iruka's sweating torso.

"A-are you going to kill me?" Iruka managed to mutter, choking as he felt warm kisses run up his chest. Something deep inside was telling him that this situation was escalating out of control. Despite his intelligence – Iruka was in a very stupid position and a potentially fatal one at that.

He wriggled in the dust, trying to ease himself out of the Spartan's grip. Stopped abruptly as he felt the silver-haired fiend bite down on the nape of his neck. Holding back a scream, Iruka blinked back the tears. His mind racing as he pondered how something how wrong, could feel so right.

"Mhmm, probably" the warrior answered finally, pushing Iruka down hard into the ground. The warrior silently drew back, tugging up his mask as he straddled the Athenian's hips. Sweat running down his brow, the Spartan jolted forward. A strong, muscular hand pinning Iruka down by the jugular. The sudden movement and the pain sending the defenceless man's mind spinning madly as he struggled for breath. His eye narrowing, the Spartan paused, thinking away to himself. "Though… there is another wa…"

In the blink of an eye, a thick cord encircled the exposed neck of the masked man. Thrusting the warrior off Iruka's sweat drenched lap with one powerful tug. An almost animal like scream came from the Spartan as he thrashed against the ground, the shock of a surprise attack stunning him. His body shuffled and he howled as the rope tightened; never in all his life had Iruka ever seen something so animalistic.

"Sick fucking bastards!" came the cry from the shadows. The muscular monolith, Asuma stepping out, a thick coil of rope clutched in his hands. Grunting as he heaved, Asuma dragged the gasping Spartan backwards. The silver haired man's legs kicking as he tried to pull the cord back from his neck, "You certainly put on a good show don't you" Asuma howled in laughter, his pipe wobbling from his lip and he clutched the Spartan around the face. Using one powerful, scarred arm to send the Spartan's head against the white wash wall. A bone shattering crunch ringing through Iruka's ears as he watch the man's silver mop change to a damp, fairy-floss pink.

"STOP IT! OH, IN THE NAME OF THE GODS, STOP IT!!" screamed Iruka as he sat watching Asuma plough the warrior's skull into the wall again. His chest tensing as Asuma dropped the Spartan. The masked soldier's body landing limp on mud covered feet. Iruka's eyes watered as he watched blood drain through the cobbles, the reasons for such violence were non-present in his shattered mind.

Also missing from his senses was the realization that –after having his way with the olivine Athenian- the very victim of Asuma's wrath would have probably done the same cruel thing to Iruka. In fact, the Spartan probably would have laughed. Iruka however, did not register any of this. All he could see was the Spartan, the blood and a head of stained pink hair.

Hesitantly, Iruka crawled towards the body. His fingertips brushing the downy eyelashes of the paler Spartan, a sudden breath of life from the man sending a shiver through the teacher's spine. An painful ebbing sensation inside his stomach making Iruka's mocha brown eyes water.

"Eck..." remarked Asuma, his right hand drawing the short sword from its ruby-red scabbard. It's gold, barbarian trimming lay lumpy and worn against the leather of the man's thigh. With a puff of his pipe, the General of Lesbos gazed down with an unmatchable loathing, Iruka's gentle strokes disgusting him.

The blade gave an almost unheard click as he drew the hilt, barely an inch of the shiny steel body was exposed to the fast fading daylight when a strong grip forced the Lesbian's sword back down. Asuma stood still as he felt the hand against his own, a wave of fury coursing through him as he watched a pointy-haired shadow escalate against the wall.

"I think you've done enough" Shikamaru said from Asuma's side, not looking his sordid master in the eyes. "Ebisu is looking for you, you best go. I'll sort this out from here" he added, kneeling to pry Iruka away from the twitching body of the Spartan. A somber look on his face as he gently pushed back the horrified teacher.

"Very well, take him to the lockup" grunted Asuma, spitting at Iruka's feet. The mucus dribbling down into the cobbles. "Grow a pair" snarled the military leader at the teacher, stalking off down the path towards the forums. Asuma's sudden appearance and disappearance leaving Iruka shaking in shock.

"There are moments, Oh wise teacher, when I think serving this guy… is far to troublesome" muttered Shikamaru under his breath, his eyes following the thick arms and carved muscles of his master as Asuma walked away.

"Though I don't think I'll have to worry about that too much anymore, not with all this change in the air…" he whispered, eyes hazing with memories as he lifted up the Spartan. "Best be away with you, you don't want anyone thinking you enjoyed this villain" Shikamaru piped, casting a sly smile Iruka's way. Alerting the teacher that, like always, Shikamaru the Shadow of Athens – the greatest spy and assassin the city had- knew more than the teacher had ever given him credit for.


	6. Corrupt

**NARUTO**

**DISCLAIMER****: Don't own~!**

* * *

**ARCHIMEDES SCREW**

_**Noun**_

_**Archimedes S**__**crew**__ (__plural __**Archimedes screws**__)_

_A screw like device invented by Greek mathematician Archimedes, ca. 200 BCE, which when twisted inside a cylinder, raises water from a lower level to a higher level_

**CHAPTER SIX: CORRUPT**

An almost eerie silence was present at Iruka's courtyard above the cliffs, a wide circle of mixed children sat with red puffy eyes and tear-stained cheeks around the colossal toad mosaic. At the head of the circle sat Naruto, his legs folded as he shivered in disbelief. The events of yesterday running through his mind like a stallion through a field. His thoughts erratic and jumping, flashing like light and fading back before he could comprehend anything that had happened to him before Neji had dragged him out of the Athenian underground.

"And you say that Neji the High Priest of Athena saved you?" came the query from the circle, Ino Yamanaka –whose father was the chief of the Athenian Intelligence Network- shuffled forward slightly as she spoke. "Honestly? Really? He saved you?" she asked again. The bright morning sunlight shone against her golden hair, making it shimmer and glisten in the cool sea breeze. It was the kind of hair that everyone admired, especially those who fancied the Yamanaka priestess-in-training.

Gazing down at his feet, the blond boy nodded, red rosy nose highlighting the lines that ran along his cheeks. The birthmarks he chose to ignore, though the rest of the population rarely did. He had been teased and tormented for years because of them, it made being an orphaned delinquent that much harder.

Naruto's hands twisted the cloth between his fingers, anger building as he wondered how many times he would have to tell his story to the never-caring crowd that now seemed so enthralled. It was like they were using him… though for once, he couldn't blame them. Everyone had been scared by the Spartan attack; it was the first they had ever experienced. Where the elders had been prepared – many of the inexperienced and untrained children of Athens had cowered beneath beds and tables.

"My father says that the older Spartan raped Iruka the Teacher, he says the younger one probably did the same to you" piped Sakura from the left, her small chest heaving as she saw the horrified glances around her. She'd had always been known for her gall, Sakura was famous for it actually. Where others would sit idly by, the pinkette had been known to do anything to achieve her goals. Even if it meant saying the odd inappropriate comment.

"He didn't though, did he?" she added quietly. A cool breeze over her bare shoulders making her shiver. A twang of concern running through her as she watched the blond orphan hug his knees.

"No he didn't!" hissed the blond, looking up to watch the shivering priestess. His heart thumping as he saw watery green eyes. His insides unsure of whether he hated her right now or loved her beyond his comprehension.

"Iruka wasn't raped" corrected Shikamaru. The pony-tailed teen sat back casually, his arms folded against his chest as he observed the going-ons of those around him. From besides him a small pale girl nodded, her short blue-black hair barely bouncing. Much unlike her large chest, which bounced around as she moved.

"H-he r-r-really wasn't" whispered Hinata Hyuuga, looking up courageously at her peers. Their blank and confused expressions sending the shy priestess of Aphrodite's gaze crashing back down to the beady eyes of the toad mosaic. It was the only thing she could focus on without wanting to vomit and even then, she still felt nauseous.

Defiantly, the pink haired priestess stood up. Her face growing red as she grimaced down at Hinata and Shikamaru. "Oh really, well if _my _daddy said it happened, then it happened!" boomed the strong willed Sakura as she waltz around the mosaic courtyard. Her leather sandals tapping against the icy cold tiles. Turning on the spot and pushing her hands down hard on her hips, the young woman absorbed the attention of those around her. "Right!?" Sakura said, looking about for her loyal friends.

A small wave of nods followed, some more reluctantly than others. Nobody but Shikamaru, Hinata and Naruto himself were brave enough to disrespect the conclusion of a priestess from the Haruno family. If you were smart, you respected the Haruno's, they were the richest and most politically minded of all the families in Athens… much like the Hyuuga's were the most religiously minded.

"So you really all believe that the Haruno girl is telling the truth? You honestly believe her?" grunted Asuma's apprentice, standing to look the pink haired girl in the eyes. Her silent determination taking him by surprise. "You're even stupider than I thought you all were then! To believe her just because her family is rich, how pathetic" he continued, his face turning pale as he shook with frustration. Generally, anger inducing activities were beyond him but, Shikamaru supposed, if there was ever a time to be defiant it was when lies were being accepted as common truth.

"Oh shut up! This isn't about you! This isn't about either of you! Iruka could have been killed! Our teacher could have been killed and all you care about is if the Spartan got a fuck out of him? What the heck is wrong with you people!" howled Naruto, jumping to his feet. Eyes dry and stern as he glared about at guilty faces. With a stifled yell of anger, the blond turned on his heels and marched down the hills. Dried leaves crunching beneath his feet as he ploughed his way through the coast. Two bandage bound hands covering his ears as he tried to muffle out the calls of the circle.

"I hate them, I hate them" he whispered. Shaken and angry, he marched without knowledge of his direction. He had no aim and no desire to be anywhere; other than far, far away from theories of Iruka's and his own ordeals, of course.

Iruka! Of course! If there was anyone the distraught blond could talk to… or at least sit in a comfortable silence with… it was his teacher, the only soul in the whole city who considered Naruto even slightly worthy of any attention. With a gleam of determination in his eye, the young Athenian turned about face, trekking down towards the main square. The best and most direct route that Naruto knew that would take him to Iruka's sanctum, the Athenian Library and Scroll House.

The cobbles beneath his shoes felt unsettling, their tapping noise echoing through his ears. Biting down on his lip, Naruto tried to force the thoughts of his unnerving attack within the twisted bowels of Athena's temple into the deep of his mind.

Chest heaving again, Naruto walked swiftly up the stairs of the library. Again, he clutched at his aching torso, making a swift mental note to see someone about these breathing difficulties… or at least sacrifice a small bird to Apollo in return for medical treatment.

"Iruka? Teacher Iruka?" puffed the boy, walking calmly into the main room of the library. His eyes - now dull from weariness and the horrors of the day that seemed so adamant to pillage his naïve mind - fell upon the twelve foot tall shelves of books, scrolls and pottery. All of which had the typical Greek print over their faces. It always amazed him how Iruka could sit for hours on end just reading. Reading and writing and reading some more, that's all Naruto ever saw the wise teacher doing in his spare time. He guessed that was how Iruka became so wise in the first place.

"TEACHER!" howled Naruto, stepping over a scattered pile of scrolls, green trim looking horribly foreign. Possibly from the west of Persia, the blond considered. Not that he knew much about Persian intricacies, only what he had picked up from the low whispers of his classmates.

"TEACHER!!" he repeated, adding a snide remark on the end, roughly equivalent to "where are you?" but with far more swear words.

Grunting in annoyance, the teen pressed onwards into fairly foreign ground. His brief knowledge of the library leading him through several wide rooms which he knew Iruka particularly favoured. Yet Iruka was nowhere to be found. Naruto couldn't help but sigh as he wandered, completely lost (much like he usually was in the library) through the vast chambers.

"Is anybody here? Hello?" whimpered the teen, his right hand running across the spines of ancient books, stacked so neatly upon the stone carve shelves. With a defeated huff, the boy fell silent, focusing hard on any noise around him. It would be a lie to say that Naruto had poor senses, no, despite not beingas tall or being able to run as far as the other children, Naruto Uzumaki had exceptional hearing and eyesight. It was his only compensation for being such a horrible athlete.

Creeping about, Naruto's ears finally flicked as they sensed the faint rumblings of nearby scholars. Smirking and crouching low, the blond tiptoed around the corner, ever so careful not to alert the others of his presence. Being cheeky and a nuisance was, after all, his greatest talent.

"…And so he just stormed out?" one voice said, belonging to the large set body of some old library-lover.

"Absolutely. He marched out, as if it were his own business and not that of the state" came the reply from an equally old yet sickeningly thin and decrepit man. Wheezing and sucking in a breath, the sorry excuse of an old man continued to the best of his capabilities, "Imagine that, Lucian, that young Iruka storming out after… by Zeus… defending a Spartan's rights! It's sickening".

"Disgusting" spat a third, especially obese old crooner seated between the two. Sniffling and huffing whilst squirming in his seat, he snorted and let the others continue.

Lucian, the portly, youngest (though still incredibly old and rather decrepit) and first speaker scratched his chin. "I just can't understand it! Barely three hours had passed since he was near slaughtered by the very same mongrel in the streets and he already jumped to its defence. I know Iruka is… kind hearted… but this just seems…"

"Ridiculous!" suggested the seated man, pleased when the other two nodded in response. Their conversation cut short as another large, grey-haired man wearing purple robes came to join the group.

"Pontius" addressed the decrepit creature to the left, a slight bow and a flick of the hand was delivered. Drawing the hiding, and somewhat horrified by the conversation, Naruto closer. His hiding place under a great mahogany desk keeping him far from anyone's sight.

"Marco" responded Pontius Haruno, the proud father of Sakura Haruno. Fiddling with his robes, Pontius sighed. "I suppose you have all heard --or seen-- what has just happened? I was only recently alerted about it of course. I'm shocked that, after all our kindness, Iruka would jump so easily to the side of his own molester" the large man muttered, his chin swaying as he spoke.

Sweat ran down in beads across Naruto's forehead. A feeling of panic running through his stomach as he seriously considered the groups gossiping. Would Iruka really run out on senators and dignified scholars in anger over … over Spartans? The blond bit down on an already tender lip, the images of his naked form on the cold catacomb floor enough to make him vomit in his mouth.

"Well, Haruno, do you have a suggestion? What are we to do about this little predicament?" Tatula, the obese seated form grunted. Lucian snorted, looking eagerly over at the Haruno for an answer.

"The Spartans are prisoners of the state, which means the state determines their fate. Therefore it is simple; if Iruka contests or ridicules the decision of the council then we will convict him of treason and have him executed. I don't think it would take much for the council to dispose of the man, he's been a thorn in the my own and the Nara family's side since he was old enough to walk" Pontius Haruno said, enraging Naruto and driving the boy to stifle a howl of frustration.

So what, now Iruka could _die _because he was defending Spartans? The stupidity of it all felt so painful in Naruto's barely beating heart.

"The Nara's would approve, that is true, but what of the Choza and his Akimichi clan?" sighed Lucian.

"Have wanted him exiled for years" snapped Tatula, earning a smile from the green eyed Pontius.

"Then it's decided. If the teacher interferes than his head shall roll!" exclaimed the political giant and beloved father of the priestess, Sakura.

"Oh and roll it will, Iruka just can't help himself" sneered Marco, adding lightly, with a sing-song happiness to his crackling voice, "the boy's probably already down at the dungeon now!" and with that the small group erupted in laughter. The crackling, wheezing grunts of joy echoing in the ears of the small boy under the nearby desk.

"…Iruka?" Naruto mouthed silently, blinking as the last of his tears dried against burning cheeks. A knot forming in the darkness of his stomach as Naruto cursed and swore from his hidden place.

Knees exploding into action, Naruto bolted from under the desk. Not caring to crawl back and avoid being noticed rather, the worried teen dashed straight past the joyous ruckus of the scholars and their scheming senator. The sudden sight of a white clad, blond shocking the group.

"Catch that boy!" screeched Pontius, a dangerously crooked finger pointed at the swift-footed spy. His baritone erupting through the library behind the teenager.

While Pontius Haruno could only hope that Naruto had not overheard anything the men had plotted, Naruto only hoped that Iruka was as far away from the dungeons of Athens as possible.


	7. Lies

**NARUTO**

**DISCLAIMER****: Don't own~!**

* * *

**ARCHIMEDES SCREW**

_**Noun**_

_**Archimedes S**__**crew**__ (__plural __**Archimedes screws**__)_

_A screw like device invented by Greek mathematician Archimedes, ca. 200 BCE, which when twisted inside a cylinder, raises water from a lower level to a higher level_

**CHAPTER SEVEN: LIES**

Naruto Uzumaki couldn't help but hiss as he stumbled down the stairs of the library, the previous chambers but flashes in his memory now. Muscles ached and sweat rippled down his skin as he ran the sloping, sliding hills of the Athenian coast. The blond cursed himself, his mind --unable to follow his footsteps-- was focusing instead on one irrelevant thing.

That Sakura may very well have been right… Iruka had been _touched _by the Spartan.

"Iruka!!" he called with an outstretched neck, jogging past the clean-up efforts of those Athenians who were not still hiding in their homes after the brief --though damaging-- reprisal. No-one seemed concerned by the howling teen as he whipped through the streets like a yellow flash, their efforts firmly focused on reassembling their stalls and shops along the promenade.

Pushing his way through the throngs of cleaning shop-owners and soldiers, Naruto ducked under the arm of a man with large bags under his eyes. Hayate blinked, mouth hanging open as he watched Iruka's tiny student run down the shadow glazed doorway of the smallest Athenian dungeon. The one that Asuma had favoured for its small cells and barbaric conditions since he had first set foot on Athenian soil.

"Kids these days…" coughed Hayate, leaning on his broom.

Though Naruto couldn't run far and though he wasn't strong or fast, the blonde used everything he had to the best he could. So as he galloped down the dungeon stairs into the eerie candle-lit, the lagoon-eyed boy kept his famously dazzling peepers open and alert. Ears open and searching for the slightest noise.

Landing heavily against the dungeon floor, Naruto shot a frantic look up the long corridor, scared when he witnessed only dying invaders calling from their cages. Slowly, with a racing heart, Naruto edged forward. Back pressed against the mud-rendered walls of the passage as he sucked in his stomach, his face tilted away from the grabbing hands and spitting faces that although separated by bars, were far too close for comfort.

The invaders, mostly from the recent attacks, watched the young Athenian with a great hunger set in their faces. Naruto couldn't help but gaze back at them.

Some were Carthagian – warriors direct from Carthage. A city at the north of the dusty, hot African Empire that had argued with Athens and many other lands often enough. The rest of the dirty old soldiers were, as Naruto would have guessed, Spartan.

They weren't like the one that had attacked him; the Spartan who had attacked him was young and fit. These warriors were old, scars covering their bodies and dribble dripping from their chins as they pressed their faces against the cold iron bars.

Sparta had sent them to their honorable deaths in the last battle such dilapidated warriors would ever fight. After all, it was the least Sparta could do for its people. There was nothing greater than dying as a hero for one's state. Though as Naruto watched them, he couldn't help but wonder what was so glorious about dying in battle or –as Iruka had always told him- dying for one's soil.

These dying warriors looked vile.

The Spartan who had attacked Naruto, Sasuke, had looked wicked but not vile. He hadn't even looked vile while pressing the blond against the icy catacomb floor. The blonde's eyes darkened. If a Spartan so young as his assailant could be so brutal, than he certainly did not want to know what these war-ravaged mad dogs could do.

Turning the corner, Naruto froze, sinking down as he saw a figure up ahead. The nervous form of Iruka making him smile slightly, the teacher's bodice safely seated on a stool before a cell. Naruto's presence completely unnoticed, as was normal for the boy.

"Why did you come?" coughed a voice. The figure in the cell not in Naruto's keen line of sight.

"I-I wanted to know… if you were alright" whispered Iruka, his breathing shallow and his face bandaged. Red stains visible on plain hessian cloth. He lowered himself onto his knees, edging forward slightly.

"Well you can see for yourself!" retorted the mangled voice of the prisoner; it's disgruntled cry leading scar-nosed man to bow his head.

"You were going to kill me, it's what you deserve" Iruka whimpered, grinding his teeth as he looked up through the loose strands of his hair. He knew well enough that he must have looked pathetic, but he couldn't help himself.

There was a loud bang as metal collided with metal, the steel guard of the Spartan's torso striking against the shaking bars of the ancient cell. His hand shooting out to grab the teacher by the chin, drawing him slightly closer.

With the crash, Iruka closed his eyes. Certain that his fate was sealed and he would only open his dark chocolate orbs to view the horrors of Hades. He tingled inside as he felt hot flesh touch his face, not rough but gentle. The hand stroking down the young man's chin with a kindness that Kakashi seemed to have hidden from his manifestation.

He opened his eyes with a sigh, locking gazes with the dark orb that drifted between the rusty bars. "I wasn't going to kill you" groaned the Spartan, dried blood caked to his face and bare arms. Tattered rags dangling from beneath his armour. His face, hidden from Iruka's, wore a sullen frown as he drew the dark haired man forward. The teacher's ear just inches from Kakashi's bar-cradled face. "How could I ever harm someone quiet so beautiful" he purred, sliding a finger along his jaw. Making Iruka groan. Pressing himself against the iron-bars, Iruka arched his back.

"You're lying" groaned the teacher, fingers encircling a tufts of silver hair.

"It would be most heinous to lie to such beauty in the face of the gods. For, like Ares cannot resist the temptations of the darling Aphrodite, I cannot resist one as fair as you" chuckled Kakashi.

Pushing back the brown haired man, Kakashi placed two crimson tarnished fingers across Iruka's lips. Savouring the small rise in his scarred nose as the local Athens resident smiled shyly.

"You, Mr…ah…"

"Kakashi"

"You, Mr Kakashi, are -for lack of better words- a player" whispered Iruka. His pink lips tickling the small spots of the Spartan's fingers where Kakashi still had some feeling.

"You've got me all wrong, Aphrodite's vassal, I'm but a poet" Kakashi responded, his one visible eye forming a happy upside down "U". "Though one with a sword, 'tis true…" the Spartan giggled, winning a small laugh from his visitor. Kakashi was lying through his teeth and somewhere deep inside him Iruka knew that too.

In silence, Iruka leant forward, his hands coming to draw the Spartan's mask down. Lips plump, he drew back the fabric just a fraction. Pausing as a wild yelp pierced the air.

"NO!"


	8. Blind

**NARUTO**

**DISCLAIMER****: Don't own~!**

* * *

**ARCHIMEDES SCREW**

_**Noun**_

_**Archimedes S**__**crew**__ (__plural __**Archimedes screws**__)_

_A screw like device invented by Greek mathematician Archimedes, ca. 200 BCE, which when twisted inside a cylinder, raises water from a lower level to a higher level_

**CHAPTER EIGHT: BLIND **

"NO!" howled Naruto Uzumaki, his body flying forward from the depths of the shadows. The shock of the scream sending Iruka reeling backwards and making his Spartan companion look up in mild fascination. Growling, Naruto rushed up the dungeon path, a flat palmed slap landing hard against his teacher's chest as he pushed the older Athenian further away from the rusted bars of Kakashi's cell.

"Why so serious?" chuckled Kakashi, fixing his mask and laying back in the confines of his cage. A playful look in his eye. It was the kind of look that comes with a man that lacks the fear of death.

"Shut up! Just shut up!" snarled Naruto as he pushed Iruka back further, "What do you think you're doing!? What, do you think this is a brothel or something?" the blonde gapped.

Scornfully, Iruka tried to push the teen away. "You wouldn't understand, Naruto. How can I expect a child to understand?"

"HADES! This isn't a game. Teacher Iruka, that man is a Spartan. He is an enemy to Athens and has spilt the blood of our fellows in the street! Yet you'd do this… you'd let him touch you…" Naruto eyed the silver haired Spartan. A shiver running down his spine as the warrior lent back against the wall, having to drag his battered body backwards. There was a crimson trail left behind his bandaged body's path.

Without a word, Iruka pushed Naruto away. A thick lump rising in his stomach as he gazed at his beloved student, then back at the Spartan. Caught between the two. An undying love for a precious student and a lust that he hadn't felt in years – when the two met in Iruka's head, it left him more than a little confused.

Though the Spartan felt no such emotions, no, he felt lust for the Athenian but was far from caring about him - let alone the little brat that was scowling at his bloodied person.

"I can't describe how I feel" Iruka muttered, earning a grunt of anger from his fellow.

There was a moments silence as the three men looked about each other. The Spartan seated upon the floor smiled briefly as he saw his Athenian toy bite a swollen lip.

"Oh, I'm fairly sure that I can describe exactly how you feel. It's not an uncommon predicament" Kakashi suddenly crooned. Naruto and Iruka looked at him with furious eyes; Naruto gazing furiously because this vile excuse for a human being was trying to defile his master, Iruka because his painfully weak heart was about to be analysed before his chocolate coloured eyes.

"You -after experiencing the touch of a strong armed warrior- are swept off your nimble feet. Which is understandable really, who wouldn't fall for a guy like me after experiencing such a drought of romance in one's life?" Kakashi said.

"Why don't you just go and die!" Naruto snarled, kicking out at the cage.

Iruka gazed down, cracking his fingers as he muttered under his breath: "He's got a point though Naruto… It hasn't really been raining men in my life". Looking up, the teacher flashed Kakashi a small smile, "-and he is rather handsome".

"Iruka~!" Naruto exclaimed, grabbing his teacher's hand and attempting to drag him away.

"Ah! See, I was right. That's not surprising though really" chortled Kakashi from his place on the floor, he rocked his head to the side. His already hindered eye-sight becoming blurry as his headache –which was considerably bad to begin with- grew worse.

"Hades, I'm so tired" the formerly silver haired warrior whispered, gently touching his head. His pain unnoticed as Naruto and Iruka continued to bicker.

"I cannot believe you would be so dumb! He's our enemy. You're the one who taught me never to trust your enemy. Maybe you need to practice what you preach, teacher!!" grunted the blond through his teeth, flecks of spittle flying as Iruka towered over him and gazed down menacingly.

"I never said I trusted him, I just feel something for him" the scarred man replied, sighing.

"In the name of Zeus! It was bad enough that I didn't know you were even gay but now you're telling me this bullshit about caring for him!" Naruto snarled, casting a threatening finger at the Spartan.

"He would have killed you…" he whispered, stepping back, allowing Iruka the room to move.

"Naruto – I don't believe that he's a bad person, he was just doing his job… and got distracted, distracted by me" shrugged the Athenian.

"He would have killed you…" repeated the teen, his eyes on the floor. Tensing as he felt Iruka's soft hand embrace his shoulder, bringing him in for a hug. "…you're the only one who's nice to me. What would I do if you died?" sobbed the blond.

From deep in his cell Kakashi spoke up, "If you were Spartan, I'd kick your arse for crying" he said to Naruto. His head still rolled from side to side as he talked, his movements being an average attempt to keep conscious.

"Oh, shut up!!" Iruka yelped, shooting a silencing glance at the object of his affections. His face tense as he glared at Kakashi, making the Spartan sigh and sink down further against the wall.

Tenderly, Iruka placed a hand atop his most precious student's head. Closing his eyes briefly as he enjoyed the moment – enjoyed the happiness he felt with the blond. "If I had died, you would have been fine. You're a strong boy – I don't doubt that you'd be able to take care of yourself" Iruka said softly before continuing, "I wouldn't have died though, I would have found a way to make it out alive".

"How can you be so sure?"

"'Cos I'm smarter than them, I've always been and always will be smarter than the Spartans. Probably smarter than the Athenians too" chuckled Iruka as he held Naruto close.

Grinning, Naruto tugged Iruka closer. "Promise me that you'll always be smarter than them, that whenever you're ever in trouble again that you'll get straight out of it!" Naruto said, looking his teacher in the eye.

"I promise".

Iruka's hands brushed through his blond student's locks; he felt so calm. The very dungeon seemed to melt away he was that happy. He had to end it though, it was unavoidable.

"Naruto?"

"Yes, teacher?"

"The Spartans weren't expecting this guy to get caught" Iruka said, pointing a thumb at the delirious Kakashi. Blue eyes followed the thumb, glaring angrily at the warrior as he swore under his breath. "He –and his companion for that matter- was nothing more than a babysitter really. He was sent to watch over the other warriors…"

Edging forward, the blond rubbed his chin. "You mean all those scabby old guys in the other cells?" he said as he knocked around a pebble with his feet.

"Indeed" Iruka began, "those Spartans were sent on a sort of suicide mission. Which isn't normal really – but they haven't had a good war too kill off everyone in quite a while so they sent these fellows off on a 'mission' to Athens, hoping that they'd just die off. Now, Kakashi here and his pupil were meant to return – but they got caught up in the… bloodiness of it all I guess". Naruto eyed Iruka cautiously, he knew far too much about foreign ways.

"How the heck do you know this?" the teenager enquired. He moved away, turning to look through the stalls around him. Mangled arms and the cries of the dying filled his senses.

"Like I said – I'm smart" Iruka retorted, following the boy's view.

Then there was a silence, it was long and drawn out. A thick tension forming between the two Athenians, Kakashi far too ill to break the silence.

"Iruka, I overheard some of the elders talking in the library. They said that if you defend the Spartans then th-they'll execute you for treason…they said most of the city would agree to it" Naruto said in a hushed voice, his back turned to his teacher. He couldn't look him in the eye, not while saying such things. Around the teen cobwebs fell, the scraping and screaming of prisoners falling upon deaf ears as the two stood still in the narrow passage. "Do you understand why I don't want you near this guy? You maybe be smart but you can't outrun the entire Athenian army, they'll kill you. No fuss and no last words. Get it?"

In the darkness, Iruka choked. A hand covering his mouth as he gasped. "W-who? Who planned this?" he stammered, leaning on the filth-covered wall. Unfazed by the fact that the smell or urine would probably stick to his robes.

"Pontius Haruno" Naruto replied, "I saw him say it myself… then I came to get you, to warn you to stay away from these bastards" he added jolting forward as Iruka grabbed him. Shaking him slightly.

"You ran here? Don't tell me they saw you – don't tell me that they saw you run here~!" Iruka said as he shook the teen, turning the boy to look him in the eyes. The fear that Pontius Haruno would send someone after Naruto sent violent shivers up his spine.

"ANSWER ME!!"


	9. Rage

**NARUTO**

**DISCLAIMER****: Don't own~!**

* * *

**ARCHIMEDES SCREW**

_**Noun**_

_**Archimedes **__**Screw**__ (__plural __**Archimedes screws**__)_

_A screw like device invented by Greek mathematician Archimedes, ca. 200 BCE, which when twisted inside a cylinder, raises water from a lower level to a higher level_

**CHAPTER NINE: RAGE **

Grunting as his spine rubbed raw against the passage of the Athenian dungeons, Iruka pleaded to the gods for help. His eyes unfocused as he tried to struggle away from the furious Naruto Uzumaki; the blond boy stuck in some twisted rage.

"N-Naruto! W-What are you doing?" he pleaded, straining his neck to breathe. Unable to look the younger man in his fiery red eyes, Iruka scratched at his arms.

"You don't know anything~!" Naruto howled in response, releasing Iruka only to slam the thin framed man back into the wall. "ANYTHING!" he shouted, baring fangs at his master. In all truth, Naruto was not even present at that situation. Naruto –the kind, gentle boy who was the outcast of his society- was somewhere deep inside the blond, blue-eyed vassal. The boy's conscious swirling inside some dark abyss.

Lost inside a world of black, the real Naruto tossed his head and blinked his eyes dumbly, unsure of where he was. Was he dead? Was he unconscious? He had no idea, though he supposed that if he were truly dead he would be swimming around with the other dead in the realm of Hades. So, after pondering and deciding he was certainly not deceased, Naruto did the only sane thing that you can do when swirling around in one's own conscious, he smiled. He was one step closer to finding out where he was.

"N-Naruto!" a voice echoed through Naruto's conscious. Even in the dark abyss Naruto could hear it, the gentle voice transcending through the layers of black. "Iruka?" he pondered as he floated about, unsure but peaceful all the same. His anger subsided, the fear of the Spartans, the fear for his teacher – it all seemed to drift away.

"Iruka, where are you?" the blond asked, looking around. There was nothing to be seen though. There was nothing above him, nothing below him, nothing to his left and certainly nothing to his right. "Teacher, this isn't funny" mused the boy, crossing his arms. His mind forming the notion that out of all the places in the world, this had to be one of the worst for playing hide-and-go-seek.

"N-Naruto stop! You're h-hurting m-me!!" came a raspy voice through the darkness, the blue eyed Athenian registering it as another of Iruka's calls. The boy's oceanic coloured eyes widening in horror as faint yelps of pain rippled through his pleasant black escape.

"Stop!? Iruka, where are you!? What am I doing, how am I hurting you!?" Naruto exclaimed. Swimming forward through the darkness, the teenager frantically looked for any signs of anything. His hands sweeping through nothingness. Blinking wildly, the teenager paused as he heard a frantic howl echo around.

"IRUKA!" he shouted as he swam forward; falling and spinning through the darkness that had consumed him.

Flying forward at a ridiculous pace, Naruto tumbled towards the source of Iruka's voice. Grunting as he tried to will himself to go just that little bit faster. The teen frowned as he went, a pained look upon his face. With each in he flew forward more and more pressure build up within his head – gathering behind his eyes.

For some people, this could be explained as a similar feeling to the pain experienced in one's head and ears during the acts of climbing mountains or deep sea diving. To Naruto though, there was no feeling to compare such a feeling with. It was a throbbing pain, pushing against his skull relentlessly. The escalating pain pushing so hard behind his eyes that the blond just about fainted, his stomach rolling from nausea.

Lurching forward, the boy curled up, gagging as the throbbing took its toll. The voice of Iruka still echoing painfully around him as the Athenian's vision blurred and –after choking on what he assumed was his stomachs former contents- Naruto passed out only to awaken in a place that certainly was not his eternal realm of darkness.

The boy gazed groggily about, raising his head. There was still darkness to his left, to his right and above and below him… but in front of the boy was a totally different scene. Before the kneeling Naruto loomed two gargantuan gold-plated gates. The teen gaped at the sheer enormity of them, tracing their frame before gazing deep within.

His stomach stirring as a deep growl resounded from behind the monolithic structures. Two amber orbs appearing in the deep, poisonous darkness.

_"Thhhey dddon't uuunderstand uuus…"_ came a sickened groan, it was a tired and angry call. Dripping hatred with every word. _"…Tttrapped fffor ssso lllong iiinside thhhese gggates"_ it boomed through the gold, making Naruto shiver.

"Bbbeen sssleeping ssso lllong. Thhhey thhhought thhhey kkkilled uuus, thhhought thhhat wwwe wwwere gggone" the orbs whispered, tiny glimmers of white peaking through the darkness below the amber spheres.

Two rows of razor sharp teeth.

Just like a foxes.

"W-what are you?" Naruto whispered. He shook as he spoke, an icy chill overwhelming him. The creature did not respond though, it's eyes wandered around. A deep growling sounds erupting from its belly.

Finally it spoke, _"Hhhades thhhought hhhe wwwon wwwith uuus. Thhhought thhhat wwwe wwwould kkkill thhhem aaall…"_

"Hades!? Hades sent you?" stammered Naruto. Nervously he rose to his feet, walking over to the bars. His chills fading as hot breaths near knocked him off his feet, the stench of rotting flesh attacking his nose and making his eyes water.

_"HHHADES!"_ the creature roared, the ferocity of its mad howl bowling the meager little human over. Flecks of spittle flying as it continued, _"Hhhades uuunderestimated thhhem"._

_"Tttrapped iiin hhhere, uuuntil yyyou wwwoke Kkkyuubi. Nnnow hhhuman iiis hhhere aaand Kkkyuubi ppplays"_ the voice snarled, watching Naruto stand and stagger towards it. His hands resting upon the dim gold pillars of the gate.

It laughed, voice harsh like a Hyena. Slowly, the orbs of the great beast closed in, a figure emerging just beyond the gate. White fangs gleaming as the form of a massive dusty-red fox appeared, volcanic breath belting down upon Naruto.

The blond gazed up at it expectantly, waiting for something…anything.

"What do you mean by that?" Naruto finally asked, scratching his chin. Puzzled look upon his face as he listened to the coarse breaths of the gigantic fox. "Listen, I have to go find my teacher. I don't have time to waste here!" the Athenian exclaimed, his hands on his hips as he spoke to the beast.

_"NO! Thhhis isss Kkkyuubi's bbbody nnnow!"_ roared the monster, rattling the bars before the golden haired teenager. Said teenager however, did not move. He did not even squirm infront of the monster – which is amazing really, considering that a giant talking fox usually tends to strike fear into the hearts of many.

"We're in my body? So I'm like… having an astral moment or something?" muttered the blond to himself, eyeing off his opponent. The boy nodded to nobody in particular, definitely certain now that he was not in or on his way to Hades.

Summoning his courage, he raised his nose. Arms folded against his chest as he huffed and puffed up at the great red fox. The ever mysterious Kyuubi.

Naruto Uzumaki stood and looked the beast in its amber eyes. This wasn't his world – the real world – there was no Iruka, no Spartans and no reasonable type of architectural structure for miles around other than the monolithic gates. To Naruto, this place wasn't even real. So the strong, determined conscious of Naruto decided that in a nothing-world there is nothing to fear.

Defiantly he strode right up to the bars, pulling a face as Kyuubi snarled his rotten fangs down at the slender Greek Adonis. "Well, if this is anyone's body, it's going to be my body – so give it back" Naruto frowned, pointing a threatening finger at the Kyuubi. "That means NOW".

There was a growl of defeat from the beast, its head drawing back into the darkness as Naruto's surrounding fuzzed in and out of view. The Kyuubi unable to deny a direct order from its host at such a point in time. Perhaps if it had been awake for longer or perhaps if Naruto had been angrier. But it was not Kyuubi's time and so the beast settled down within the dark realm of the blonds' conscious. It's loss allowing Naruto to return to his body – completely in control again.

Naruto baulked as he returned, the image of his fingers wrapped tightly around Iruka's throat stunning the boy. The slow dribble of blood down Iruka's shoulders painting his clothes red. In an instant the aqua orbed child of Athens dropped the older man, a hand covering his mouth as he surveyed the damage.

"I-Iruka, it wasn't me. I didn't know" he stuttered, sliding back against the rusty bars of Kakashi's cell.

"I know" panted the teacher, looking up through exhausted eyes. His muscles aching as he pulled himself up, kneeling back down beside Naruto. "I forgive you…" he stammered.

Naruto moaned, horrified eyes absorbing every single drop of blood on his pale olive hands. His gaze suddenly shooting between his teacher, the passageway and the unconscious Spartan within the cell. Erratic behavior slowly halted by Iruka's firm grip on his shoulder.

"…Because I know that –no matter how odd some of the things I do are- you'd forgive me too" Iruka whispered, patting his student on the head.

For a moment Naruto just sat, his brain ticking over what had just happened, what Iruka had said and his own violent rampage. He knew it hadn't been he who had struck out, he knew it was the fox now. This "Kyuubi" thing deep inside that had awoke after the Spartan attack.

He shivered. How had something like that lived inside him for so long?

Why hadn't somebody ever told him? More importantly – why hadn't Naruto ever noticed it himself?

A cloud formed in his mind; swirling about as he remembered the demon within. When inside, he hadn't been afraid of it but its violent outburst had almost cost him dearly. It could have cost him one of his only friends – the same friend that was betraying him by defending a Spartan.

A pang of hurt ripped through his heart. Confusion rising.

Then, silent as a mouse, the golden haired orphan rose to his feet. Sandals dragging him down the path, leaving Iruka seated by the cell.

"I don't know about that…" Naruto muttered, turning the corner. The shadows devouring him whole.

* * *

**A/N**: Merry Christmas everyone. I'm currently writing from my Aunt's house in Melbourne, Aus. It's nice; a good holiday really. Though I'm somewhat homesick. I hope you all enjoy this chapter, feedback is much appreciated - thankyou very much and I wish you a wonderful day and a joyous new year.

**A/N 2**: I've written the first part of a Haku and Zabuza special that's part of _Archimedes Screw_. I was wondering though if I should publish it as part of this story (as I originally thought) or should I just put it as another related story? It's more comedic relief really and a bit of a break from the whole story... anyway, please PM or review me what you think, I'll publish a bit below so that you can tell me your opinion. THANKYOU~!

* * *

**BANDELERO-CASANOVA presents an extra special preview of...**

**HAKU AND ZABUZA: THE GREAT ESCAPE**

"Fhine, be thaht way" Zabuza hissed, rolling around onto his bunk. Shifting his hips around until he found the sweet spot. That comfortable little sweet spot where your back rests perfectly and all the tension in your body just ebbs away.

"Shut up gramps"

Zabuza shot up. Eyes wide as he gaped (behind the security of his mask) at the teenager.

"Grhamps? Who're yhou challing grhamps, yhou little phunk!!" he spat, hauling the nutrient-deprived little boy over by the nape of his neck.

"I'm calling you gramps, you smelly old fossil" Haku smirked.

"WHY YHOU LIHTTLE BASTARD~!" bellowed the Carthagian.

"Go lick a goat, you hairy old ball-sack"

"Arse-sniffer"

"UGLY!"

With that, the older man dropped Haku. A strange almost hurt looking glimmer in his eyes. His lips moving beneath his mask as he croaked out a sentence: "Thaht…thaht was just uncalled fhor".


	10. H&Z: Part One

**NARUTO**

**DISCLAIMER****: Don't own~!**

* * *

**ARCHIMEDES SCREW**

_**Noun**_

_**Archimedes **__**Screw**__ (__plural __**Archimedes screws**__)_

_A screw like device invented by Greek mathematician Archimedes, ca. 200 BCE, which when twisted inside a cylinder, raises water from a lower level to a higher level._

**HAKU AND ZABUZA: THE GREAT ESCAPE**

**PART ONE**

"Sorry, I don't speak mask" said the lithe figure in the corner of the cell. His skin sallow and his greasy hair hanging in folds around his face, a soft oval face that bore a surprisingly bitter smirk. Haku's clouded eyes looking over at his new prison-chum.

_Better get them in while I can… before he knocks out my teeth._

The fresh meat narrowed his eyes. His body hanging loose over a bunk, a sharp bone pick in between his dark fingers. "Fhuk hue" he muttered through a face full of bandages. His cheap excuse of a mask.

"I'm sure you will, it's what most of my roomies do" the Egyptian boy laughed, arms hanging over his bent knees. A soft hand caressing his face. He had fully accepted his fate as a street rat and a notoriously popular prison bitch.

"I dom't fhuk mhen" Zabuza groaned, dropping a palm onto his face as he wondered how he ever got into this mess.

One moment he's in a dark corner of some dodgy hotel, groaning and moaning as one of the waitresses he had tipped rather generously ravaged his loins with her mouth. Next moment the law enforcement burst in, interrupting his fun and arresting him for burglary before hauling him down to the Athenian prison.

At least he got a nice cell.

At least he got a clean roommate.

At least they let him keep his mask on.

Though no amount of "at least" remarks could possibly take away from the fact that some absolute _bastard_ had falsely accused him of burglary. Zabuza of Carthage was a con-man, a killer, muscle for hire and the occasional male prostitute to rather adventure deprived ladies even but he was _not_ a thief! He was much better at crime than petty theft.

He also had the best poker face in the whole empire. Not that he liked to brag.

"Sure, sure. Do you know how many guys come in here and tell me that they aren't interested? Then one night when I least expect it I wind up rotisserie-styled between two guys on the bathro…"

"WHOA! I dom't wamt to knhow, serhiously khid" the masked man exclaimed, waving a discouraging hand at the young boy. "How fhucking old are yhou anywhay? To yhoung for thaht shit" the elder of the two said, looking over with hazelnut eyes.

"Me? I'm fourteen, which is old enough where I'm from anyway" Haku said, examining his nails.

"Yheah… Where's thaht exactly?" the masked criminal asked. If he was going to be stuck in a cell for Zeus-knows-how-long with this kid then he may as well try and get along with the boy. That and it occupied him for five of the next…

60 minutes x 12 hours x 30 days… umm… umm… well the math wasn't important anyway. [1]

It was five minutes less boredom anyway.

Smiling away to himself, Haku scuttled on his rear just that little bit closer to his new companion. Stopping at Zabuza's feet. Where five minutes conversation meant five less boring moments for Zabuza, they were equivalent to five more minutes where Haku was being pressed naked against a wall with his orifices being violated.

It made the boy pretty happy actually.

"I'm from Luxor originally. Though I have to say I've moved about Egypt a fair bit" the young boy admitted, examining Zabuza's feet.

_He has really bad toenails._

"Thaht's a fair way ahway, kiddo. How'd yhou make it to Athens? Surehly yhou couldm't afford to buy passahge"

Haku grimaced. He was a very open boy. Very open indeed. He shared everything he knew about anything and everyone but there were some things that –even for a poor boy who hadn't eaten properly since he was five, lived on the streets when not in jail and was generally looking forward to when he finally croaked- Haku preferred to keep private.

Silently the boy shrugged, earning a grunt of annoyance from his fellow crim.

"Fhine, be thaht way" Zabuza hissed, rolling around onto his bunk. Shifting his hips around until he found the sweet spot. That comfortable little sweet spot where your back rests perfectly and all the tension in your body just ebbs away.

"Shut up gramps"

Zabuza shot up. Eyes wide as he gaped (behind the security of his mask) at the teenager.

"Grhamps? Who're yhou challing grhamps, yhou little phunk!!" he spat, hauling the nutrient-deprived little boy over by the nape of his neck.

"I'm calling you gramps, you smelly old fossil" Haku smirked.

"WHY YHOU LIHTTLE BASTARD~!" bellowed the Carthagian.

"Go lick a goat, you hairy old ball-sack"

"Arse-sniffer"

"UGLY!"

With that, the older man dropped Haku. A strange almost hurt looking glimmer in his eyes. His lips moving beneath his mask as he croaked out a sentence: "Thaht…thaht was just uncalled fhor".

For a moment Haku just watched him. "Sorry"

"Fhorget it, I dom't care what yhou thimk"

The pair sat quietly, fiddling around nervously. Unwilling to look each other in the eyes let alone talk to each other. Zabuza returning his hand to his face, again pondering how he had ended up in this hell-hole. He hadn't been in the slammer for years. Lots of years.

Haku on the other hand, had been in repeatedly over the last few years of his short life. He was in and out so much that most of the guards in the Egyptian prisons knew him. Sometimes they even stopped to talk to him.

Today very few guards had come to talk to him. On account of the recent Spartan invasion all unessential officers were dismissed from patrol to attend city wide clean-up efforts. So that meant Haku was stuck –probably for the next week or so- with his least favourite of the guards, the big fat one. The big fat one with the multiple chins. The big fat one with the multiple chins and the tiny…

"-Cock, so naturally I had to skin the poor cat. I can't have it eating all of my poultry, my wife would have a pink fit" rumbled one of the said essential guards, strolling past casually with Hayate.

The coughing, dark haired man just rolling his eyes as the other spoke. "Yeah, yeah…" he murmured. Stopping at Haku and Zabuza's cell, drawing out a key and beginning a drawn out fight with the ancient lock.

It was as if the gods had spoken to the both of the prisoners. Whatever this dreary, ill appearing man was here for – his presence would mar their escape.

"Man, sometimes it feels like you don't even listen to me!" the second guard wailed. Tossing his arms about as he waited for Hayate to finish.

There was a click of the lock and, without thinking, Hayate turned around. A face like thunder making him look absolutely ghoulish. "Well maybe if you stopped whining every several seconds than I'd have something worth listening too! For Zeus's sake!" he swore, a hand loosely gripping the door.

"Mhan's ghot a phoint" came a muffled voice from behind the sick man. Zabuza's voice easily audible over the squeal of the metal gate. Hayate's hand closing in on his body as he watched the horrorfied glance of his second. A enormous hand shooting forward to grab Hayate's companion around the face.

His screams drowning out Hayate's own complaints.

"Well this sucks"

Frowning, Haku joined Hayate. Placidly watching as Zabuza broke the annoying guard's arms in several places. "Yeah… but if you want, I can knock you out and make it look like you didn't stand to the side and do nothing" offered the teenager.

"That'd be nice, thanks kid" Hayate sighed, "That guy – '' he said while nodding at the stripe-wearing monolithic man "- I can't understand a word he says"

"Gives him an air of mystery, don't you think?" replied the preoccupied Haku, bringing down a grimy timber stool over Hayate's head.

The man collapsing into a bloody pool on the floor. His eyes rolling to the back of his head as he muttered away, "Kinda thought it just made him sound like an idiot".

With that, Haku strode over to Zabuza. The larger man busying himself with wiping the blood from his hands onto his notoriously odd pants, the eye-gouged body of a Athenian guard laying by his feet. "Any Trhouble?" he muttered to the thinner, more feminine boy.

"Not really – Snot-rag there called you a fat ugly mask-face though"

"…Fhuck yhou"

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**A/N:** I hope you enjoy this - because it's the only thing that has brought me happiness in the last few days. I'm in the Aussie bush fucking **CAMPING~!!** I hate it. I love being with my family and fishing and stuff but I hate the shitty weather, being stuck with my hair-trigger-temper Mother and absolutely nobody my own age. So naturally, I'm missing my dear **Stars-chan **terribly.

[You may know her as show . me . the . stars - without the spaces though, I can't make her name appear without them, ::sigh::]

Thus I dedicate this entire chapter to her... that and she gave me the inspiration for it via introducing me to the beautiful, wonderful, amazin' creation that is **Naruto: The Abridged Series.**

**A/N: Refering to [1] -** I'll dedicate the next chapter of _Archimedes Screw_ (or any chapter number they so desire) to whoever does this sum for me. Go ahead, do the math~! LOL.

**THANK YOU and please review~!**


	11. Sympathy

**NARUTO**

**DISCLAIMER****: Don't own~!**

**ARCHIMEDES SCREW**

* * *

_**Noun**_

_**Archimedes**__**Screw**__ (__plural __**Archimedes screws**__)_

_A screw like device invented by Greek mathematician Archimedes, ca. 200 BCE, which when twisted inside a cylinder, raises water from a lower level to a higher level_

**CHAPTER TEN: SYMPATHY**

His feet fell heavy on the prison floor – it was nicer in this part of the dreaded Athenian stockade, he had to admit. In Kakashi's cell there had been rotting rodent corpses and blood stains down the unwashed, dilapidated stonework. Here, the bars were not rusty nor were the cells as filthy. Though they still retained the smell of urine and the stains of blood against the fainter stone.

Naruto really did have to admit it; these cells were much, much nicer. He also had to admit that, as he trekked through the much wider passage, he could recognize quite a few of the criminals behind bars. Some of them he would even call friends. Such as the drunken form of Ichiraku Teuchi, a local restaurateur who was often overheard calling Naruto his best customer. Naruto didn't mind either – Ichiraku fed him well and at a reasonable rate too.

In a way, the boy was clad to see his "lower class" friends, even if they were behind bars. He paused, talking to them as if the last two days had never happened. He didn't mention the Spartans (though he avoided the topic completely whenever someone brought it up) and he certainly didn't mention his self-dubbed "astral journey" or his argument with Iruka.

Also completely gone from his mind was Pontius Haruno; in all the calamity, Naruto had completely forgotten the man howling for his guards to "catch that bastard child" as the blond had bolted from the city library. Now the boy lingered and paced about the finer levels of the jail, chatting and mingling with those he knew too well for his own good, not even wondering why the guards gave each other nervous looks. Some of the stoic figures whispering or even silently sneaking out.

It was quiet possible they knew Haruno was after the boy. Word spreads surprisingly fast between the guardians of Athens but to act on such a rumour would only prove one thing – that the soldiers were spreading confidential information. Most guards, having a strong sense of self-preservation, therefore decided it was much easier to pass rumours back about the location of wanted individuals rather than tackle the sensitive situation themselves.

Especially seeing as Genma, a senior guard for the roughest levels of the dungeons, had recently been exiled for foiling an assassination attempt on the head of the Yamanaka family. An assassination that had been planned by the Amikichi's and the details only released to the family's own personal soldiers.

Needless to say while Genma thought he was doing the right thing, the unwritten code of all Greek guards clearly defined his act as a major fuck up.

"Aye kiddo, when I g-get out of 'ere I'll shout you to a free meal. Howzat?" chortled Ichiraku, patting Naruto upon the head through the bars of his cell. Several other persons of the same cage waving and chuckling as the teenager left, heading back down to the lower levels of the prison in search of his preferred exit. The one exit that lead his directly to the somewhat scummier side of town, the side he had always lived in and –on occasion- preferred.

The boy –tired and numb- paused momentarily. Tilting his head to the side as he listened to the ruckus of several guards further down the narrow way, Naruto stepped towards the unknown. The short blond Athenian finding himself at the site of an open cell, the several guards he had heard viciously stomping and kicking out at a crumpled body upon the ground.

Gagging, Naruto bolted forward. His hands gripping the thick rust-laden bars of the cell door, he gazed on. Naruto couldn't help but freeze as he listened to the screaming of the guard's victim. His eyes locked onto the slow drizzle of crimson running down the jagged stone floor.

Hadn't he been through enough? Hadn't he been tortured enough?

The screams, the words, the beatings – everything pulled him back to that moment on the catacomb floor.

_Sobbing, Naruto shook his head, his bloody lips spraying crimson over the ground as he let out a strangled cry. The grip around his neck tightening angrily in response._

"_ANSWER ME!!" howled the warrior. Both hands wrapped around Naruto's neck as Sasuke pushed his pelvis hard against the blonds' backside. "FUCKING ANSWER ME!!" he screamed, flattening Naruto onto the floor. The blonds' legs splayed against the cold stone._

It had scared him, though it hadn't been the first time he'd thought someone would kill him. In fact, the more and more he thought about it, the less scared he became… but there was something not right. That beast inside him – something had awoken it on that cold slate floor.

That's what was scaring him right now.

He was exhausted and nauseous. Hatred boiled inside of him and his heart ached as he though he had been cheated by his dearest love, it was agonizing. Not that he knew what to do about it, the boy could only fathom one solution to his troubles – a good night's sleep.

But right now he was in strife. While his heart told him to defend the poor whelp whose unfortunate luck had led to their beating, Naruto's head told him to go home. At home was his bed, at home there would be none of this madness and at home he had a soft loaf of bread waiting for him.

Sakura –on the odd occasions where she was publicly nice to Naruto- had once said that Naruto had one major problem, he listen too much to his righteous heart. It was both a compliment and an insult, as Sakura (more than anyone else) knew that Naruto rarely followed what his keen mind said.

She'd learnt that only too well that night he turned up on her doorstep and –rather than discretely talking to her about his eternal love for her- the cyan eyed beauty had displayed his affections in a fantastically bad and extraordinarily loud song for all those in the Haruno household to hear. Until, of course, Pontius Haruno had turned the dogs on him. At which point Naruto's song was abruptly cut short.

Now was slightly different to then though, for instance, while Naruto had been chased by dogs then he was now at risk of being beaten to a bloody pulp by Athenian police. Which is far more humiliating. Silently, the blond snuck forward and watched the guards beat upon the whelp. The unknown person's strangled cries turning to desperate sobs as the guards backed away laughing. Full bodied cackles echoed around the crowd as the filed past Naruto, so drunken with their own glory that they pretended to ignore the teenager.

"Grr…bastards!" came a coarse sob from the point where the guards had been. Their victim laying in a bloody mess upon the floor. Naruto approach cautiously, he was dealing with criminals after all. The blond's hands resting on the shoulders of the downwards facing man, the warm sticky blood oozing between his fingers from fresh boot-kick wounds.

"They're gone. It's okay now, they won't come back. Are you alright?" the Uzumaki boy cooed, gently patting the dark haired man's naked shoulder.

"Hn" the unknown person grunted, gasping and wheezing. A failed attempt to sit-up leaving him in an exhausted pile seconds later. Naruto could only watch as the young man struggled, his comforting whispers ignored as he tried to clean out the wounds with his nimble hands.

They were deep wounds, courtesy of the Athenian guards' standard issue steel plated boots. Every kick had been delivered with malice and hate, some probably with spite as well. In a moment of mental clarity, Naruto wandered over to the water trough, ripping off a large square of his robes and dousing the fabric in the warm drizzle of liquid. The wet cloth dripping as he carried it back to the injured man.

"I've got you, I'll clean your wounds" Naruto said softly, washing down the turned figures back. Knowing that he'd have to roll the person to wash a bloody face in just a moment.

"I gotta turn you over, right?" he questioned, heaving the young man onto his lap. Naruto's arms wrapping around his waist, turning the person around at the waist. Then, with a short gasp, the blond paused. His eyes tracing the dark raven hair and venomous face of a figure he knew only too well – Sasuke the Spartan.

With a jolt of his head, Naruto's hands flew from Sasuke's frame – the blond boy's knees jumping as the Spartan blindly coughed red flecks onto his face. "Oh Zeus, oh Zeus~!" swore Naruto, his face ghostly as a sickening ripple surged through his body. For a moment he just sat there, the dripping wet rag still clutched between his fingertips. Shivers ran up and down his spine – was this really the same boy from the catacombs? Was this the bloodthirsty monster that had tried so hard to defile him within the darkness below Athens?

Blood rushed through Naruto's ears, his head screaming warnings, his throat tightening as sweat began to form atop his brow. Despite his fear, despite the crawling sensation in his gut and despite the knowledge that (especially after a day and truly horrifying as this one had been) he should turn away now and head for home, Naruto just watched the barely breathing form. Gritting his teeth as Sasuke slowly opened one gooey eye at a time, blinking away bloody and tears.

* * *

**A/N:** This chapter (as a super awesome prize) is dedicated to Narnialover. Thankyou for reading and doing that math - thats awesome. Not to mention insane, like, I hate math... I'm glad someone is smart enough to do it for me.

Also I AM SO **SORRY** that this is so late. I haven't been writing much lately - not FF anyway. Once again, I'm sorry. Please enjoy anyway! =D


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